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Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing
Ageing evolves because the force of selection on traits declines with age but the proximate causes of ageing are incompletely understood. The ‘disposable soma’ theory of ageing (DST) upholds that competitive resource allocation between reproduction and somatic maintenance underpins the evolution of...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
The Royal Society
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7893226/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33529563 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1728 |
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author | Lind, Martin I. Carlsson, Hanne Duxbury, Elizabeth M. L. Ivimey-Cook, Edward Maklakov, Alexei A. |
author_facet | Lind, Martin I. Carlsson, Hanne Duxbury, Elizabeth M. L. Ivimey-Cook, Edward Maklakov, Alexei A. |
author_sort | Lind, Martin I. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Ageing evolves because the force of selection on traits declines with age but the proximate causes of ageing are incompletely understood. The ‘disposable soma’ theory of ageing (DST) upholds that competitive resource allocation between reproduction and somatic maintenance underpins the evolution of ageing and lifespan. In contrast, the developmental theory of ageing (DTA) suggests that organismal senescence is caused by suboptimal gene expression in adulthood. While the DST predicts the trade-off between reproduction and lifespan, the DTA predicts that age-specific optimization of gene expression can increase lifespan without reproduction costs. Here we investigated the consequences for lifespan, reproduction, egg size and individual fitness of early-life, adulthood and post-reproductive onset of RNAi knockdown of five ‘longevity’ genes involved in key biological processes in Caenorhabditis elegans. Downregulation of these genes in adulthood and/or during post-reproductive period increases lifespan, while we found limited evidence for a link between impaired reproduction and extended lifespan. Our findings demonstrate that suboptimal gene expression in adulthood often contributes to reduced lifespan directly rather than through competitive resource allocation between reproduction and somatic maintenance. Therefore, age-specific optimization of gene expression in evolutionarily conserved signalling pathways that regulate organismal life histories can increase lifespan without fitness costs. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7893226 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | The Royal Society |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78932262021-04-07 Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing Lind, Martin I. Carlsson, Hanne Duxbury, Elizabeth M. L. Ivimey-Cook, Edward Maklakov, Alexei A. Proc Biol Sci Evolution Ageing evolves because the force of selection on traits declines with age but the proximate causes of ageing are incompletely understood. The ‘disposable soma’ theory of ageing (DST) upholds that competitive resource allocation between reproduction and somatic maintenance underpins the evolution of ageing and lifespan. In contrast, the developmental theory of ageing (DTA) suggests that organismal senescence is caused by suboptimal gene expression in adulthood. While the DST predicts the trade-off between reproduction and lifespan, the DTA predicts that age-specific optimization of gene expression can increase lifespan without reproduction costs. Here we investigated the consequences for lifespan, reproduction, egg size and individual fitness of early-life, adulthood and post-reproductive onset of RNAi knockdown of five ‘longevity’ genes involved in key biological processes in Caenorhabditis elegans. Downregulation of these genes in adulthood and/or during post-reproductive period increases lifespan, while we found limited evidence for a link between impaired reproduction and extended lifespan. Our findings demonstrate that suboptimal gene expression in adulthood often contributes to reduced lifespan directly rather than through competitive resource allocation between reproduction and somatic maintenance. Therefore, age-specific optimization of gene expression in evolutionarily conserved signalling pathways that regulate organismal life histories can increase lifespan without fitness costs. The Royal Society 2021-02-10 2021-02-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7893226/ /pubmed/33529563 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1728 Text en © 2021 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Evolution Lind, Martin I. Carlsson, Hanne Duxbury, Elizabeth M. L. Ivimey-Cook, Edward Maklakov, Alexei A. Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
title | Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
title_full | Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
title_fullStr | Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
title_full_unstemmed | Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
title_short | Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
title_sort | cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing |
topic | Evolution |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7893226/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33529563 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1728 |
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